Hutchemys

Hutchemys is an extinct genus of softshell turtles from the late Cretaceous to the late Paleocene of New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and North Dakota, United States. It was first named by Walter G. Joyce, Ariel Revan, Tyler R. Lyson and Igor G. Danilov in 2009, and the type species is Hutchemys rememdium. H. rememdium is known from the holotype YPM PU 16795, which consists of a nearly complete postcranial skeleton, and from the referred specimen YPM PU 16781, found in the Ekalaka Member of the Fort Union Formation, Montana. Another referred specimen, YPM PU 14985, was found in the Cedar Point Quarry, Wyoming. The second species, H. arctochelys, is known from the holotype YPM PU 16319, a nearly complete carapace, and from the paratypes YPM PU 16320, YPM PU 16321, YPM PU 16322, YPM PU 16238. All specimens of H. arctochelys were recovered from the same quarry of the Tongue River Member, Fort Union Formation, near Burns Mine of Montana. A possible third species is represented by the unnamed specimen UCMP 130000 from the Paleocene Tullock Formation of Montana. Aspideretes? nassau (YPM PU 11566) from the Fort Union Formation, Duffy's Ranch of Sweet Grass County, Montana was also assigned to Hutchemys sp. A fourth species of Hutchemys, Hutchemys walkerorum, has been uncovered from the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota. H. walkerorum is known from the holotype BDM 063, identified by the discovery and assembly of portions of its carapace. The fossil of H. walkerorum suggests that it was the only Hutchemys to live exclusively during the late Cretaceous era.

Hutchemys

GD · CC0 · via GBIF. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PlastomeniniPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Cryptodira
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Cryptodira
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Cryptodira

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 57.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 56 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 10 of 36 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 26 of 36 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 0 of 36 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences76–76 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 1 occurrence71–70 Mya — about 1 occurrence70–69 Mya — about 1 occurrence69–68 Mya — about 1 occurrence68–67 Mya — about 1 occurrence67–66 Mya — about 1 occurrence66–65 Mya — about 5 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 5 occurrences64–63 Mya — about 4 occurrences63–62 Mya — about 3 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 3 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 2 occurrences60–59 Mya — about 1 occurrence59–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–57 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–56 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences72.2 Mya57.5 Mya84.2 Mya55.4 Mya

36 occurrences of Hutchemys on record, most of them in the Paleocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

36 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

6 formations

Fort Union — 46.10°N, 109.95°WFort Union — 45.20°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.38°WFort Union — 46.05°N, 104.48°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WFort Union — 47.80°N, 106.10°WFort Union — 45.40°N, 105.50°WFort Union — 45.90°N, 104.13°WFort Union — 41.60°N, 108.60°WHell Creek — 47.68°N, 106.43°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 47.70°N, 105.80°WHell Creek — 47.27°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 45.87°N, 103.79°WHell Creek — 46.29°N, 103.92°WLance — 43.00°N, 104.50°WLance — 43.21°N, 104.55°WNorth Horn — 41.00°N, 110.50°WNacimiento — 36.07°N, 107.97°WKaiparowits — 37.45°N, 111.53°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Hutchemys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Hutchemys and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Hutchemys and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

190 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 35 sites for Hutchemys, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

6 references

Each of the 36 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Hutchemys

Source
GBIF
Credit
GD
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Hutchemys was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPlastomenini through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Joyce et al. 2009